By Stephanie Edwards

Asian noodle bars have been popular in bigger cities for the past couple of decades.

Now, Knoxville is finally joining the ranks.

The city’s only Vietnamese restaurant, T. Ho, is trying out this restaurant concept every evening from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Sure this might seem a little late for dinner, but it is lighter fare than you may expect.


When patrons arrive at the restaurant, small paper menus are waiting for them. On these menus are a list of ingredients.
First, guests choose which type of noodle dish they prefer — a rice noodle soup bowl, udon noodle soup bowl or vermicelli noodles.

Each of these dishes are quite distinctive. The rice noodles are thin and served in broth. While the udon noodles are also served in broth, they are quite thick. The vermicelli noodles are extremely thin, and they are served with a conservative amount of fish sauce.

Then, they select the vegetables, herbs and meat they desire.

Appetizers such as pork and vegetable egg rolls, crab rangoon, shrimp rolls and potstickers are available, as well.

The noodle bar just began operation, and I was delighted to attend their VIP/media night.

In order to give the most detailed review possible, I asked a co-worker to order something different from what I did. That way, we could share everything and taste as many menu items as possible.

Collectively, we ordered a pork egg roll, crab rangoon, potstickers, a beef udon soup bowl and an order of beef and shrimp vermicelli noodles.

Having eaten at T. Ho and being a huge fan of their egg rolls, I already knew that I absolutely had to have one. These egg rolls are so incredible that other restaurants purchase them in bulk to serve to their customers. They are also available at select grocery stores.

The postickers were the best that I have ever eaten. The outside of the dumpling was the perfect consistency — just the right thickness and texture.

The filling was not the typical nondescript meat paste that most Asian restaurants serve. Instead, it was a delectable pork filling that had plenty of flavor, and I had no questions about what I was eating.

As much as I love Asian food, it is pretty strange that I hadn’t ever had udon noodles. They were served in a beef broth with bean sprouts, Napa cabbage, onions, mushrooms and scallions.

To me, this is possibly the most approachable dish for someone who might have qualms about eating exotic foods. When it comes down to it, it’s just beef soup with veggies and rice noodles. It was very comforting and delicious.

However, I could understand why picky eaters might have a few qualms about eating the vermicelli dish.

This entreé does not look remotely like anything you might find at a country cookin’ café.

Instead, it is a nest of very thin noodles resting in fish sauce and topped with shrimp, seared steak and  uncooked vegetables.

But, if you can push your taste buds’ inhibitions aside, it is a very tasty meal.

I do not typically eat seared steak or uncooked vegetables, but something about the consistency of this dish really works.

Life would be pretty boring if it was filled with only fried chicken and hamburgers. Not to mention, very unhealthy.

T. Ho, 815 Merchants Road, serves a full  Vietnamese menu, as well as Americanized Chinese dishes, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 9 p.m. on Sunday.

The restaurant and its companion bar, The Pint House, recently opened an outdoor patio area with a tiki bar.

So do yourself a favor and try something new. Step outside of the Cracker Barrel every once and a while. You might be surprised.